LustriCorp
LustriCorp grew out of a company originally called IlusCo, which was founded in First Village in LY 400, by a man named Ilus. It was incorporated in 505, at which point it was renamed LustriCorp. Today, the corporation consists of numerous businesses, with branches in First Village, Tonad, Sorret, Toobay, Shipsister, Tanq, Plist, Triscot, Ristar, and Near Port. Its headquarters moved from First Village to Triscot in 772, but returned to First Village in 913. Its current president is Xander Illustri. Ilus was born in LY 383. He began working his first job in 392, at age 9. The first printing press had been invented two years earlier, in Pritt, and the invention quickly spread to the other villages of The Land. In 392, a newspaper called the Weekly Inquirer was started in First Village, and Ilus became a delivery boy for the paper. Over the next eight years, Ilus worked as many different jobs as he could, and learned as much as he could about a wide variety of businesses. In later years, people would sometimes refer to him as a jack of all trades, although in fact he remained unskilled at any actual trade. What he knew about was hard work, whether that he performed himself or that he inspired in others. He also considered himself a visionary (and this point was agreed upon by everyone who ever knew him or knew of him). He saved up all his money from his various odd jobs, and in 400, at age 17, he bought one of the first carriages ever produced. It was then that he started IlusCo, which began as First Village's first ever taxi service. However, even then he had plans to expand beyond just one type of business. Over the next few years, his business grew, as he added several carriages to his service, and hired more drivers. (He'd driven the first taxi himself.) Then, in 403, he met a young woman named Lupe, a hair stylist who dreamt of opening her own salon. Ilus invested in her dream, helping her to make it a reality. Lupe's Beauty Parlor became the second business to be owned by IlusCo, and it turned out to be very successful not only for the work Lupe did as a stylist (catering to wealthy men and women who wanted to show off their wealth with fancy hairstyles), but also as a school where she taught others her art. Many of her students would then become employees, which allowed the business to expand. On a personal note, Ilus and Lupe eventually fell in love, and married in 406. Over the years they would have two sons and two daughters, who would one day play their own roles in running and expanding IlusCo. In 410, Ilus began acquiring carriages and wagons, which he used to start a postal service, his first inter-village venture. In 415, he opened an inn/pub called "Lustrous Arms." This eventually became a chain, opening outlets in other villages. In 420, he became a venture capitalist, investing in upstart companies founded by people whose dreams reminded him of himself, when he was younger. Some of these businesses failed, while others succeeded and returned great profits to IlusCo, which held minority ownership of each company it had invested in. Throughout the centuries since that time, IlusCo (and later LustriCorp) has also established more limited alliances with other businesses around the world, which remain entirely independent of the company. In 437, Ilus helped finance the founding of the World Science Council, as well as acquiring a printing company, which he used to publish the Landian Journal of Science. In 442, IlusCo acquired the Weekly Inquirer, so Ilus became its publisher on the fiftieth anniversary of his first job, as an employee of that very newspaper. Ilus continued to run his company until his death in 471, at age 88. The presidency of IlusCo then fell to his eldest daughter, Tessa (who was 63). Throughout the centuries to come, up to the present day, the company has always been run by descendants of Ilus and Lupe. In 500, IlusCo invested in the expedition to found a new village, Plist. The company began opening new branches of some of its businesses there, though its publishing division, which had expanded from periodicals to begin printing books, found a fierce rival in the new company Board Books, which was founded in 501. In 505, Board Books invented mixed media printing, which drove IlusCo out of business in that village, as far as publishing was concerned. It was that loss that inspired IlusCo (now run by Ilus's grandson, Antoine) to legally incorporate, and change its name to LustriCorp. This didn't dramatically change anything about the running of the company, though Antoine believed it would lend the company a greater prestige in the public's eye, and hopefully improve its performance against its competitors. At the same time, any of the various divisions of the corporation that didn't already have their own names, were given names specific to the service they provided. This included IlusCo Publishing, which became Luminous Publishing. In 771, LustriCorp helped finance the founding of another village, Triscot. In fact, descendants of Ilus were among those who reportedly conceived the founding of the village, which was to be an upscale community for the Land's wealthiest clans. As such, the majority of the clan moved to the new village, and the corporation's headquarters were moved there, the following year. However, one family from within the clan remained in First Village, to oversee its business interests there. In 902, LustriCorp opened a chain of banks in various villages, starting in Triscot. Also that year, the majority of the clan moved from Triscot back to First Village, though the head of the clan, and president of LustriCorp, Xander Illustri, remained in Triscot with his immediate family. The corporation's headquarters also remained in Triscot, until 913, when Xander and his wife finally moved to First Village and rejoined the rest of their clan. Category:Groups